Three Things I Think I Think – Trump Tweets

1) The weighing machine. Here’s an interesting Tweet from the President this morning:

Iger, where is my call of apology? You and ABC have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. How is Brian Ross doing? He tanked the market with an ABC lie, yet no apology. Double Standard!

Ben Graham always said that the stock market is a voting machine in the short-term and a weighing machine in the long-term. He meant that the market is basically a bunch of short-term opinions in search of a long-term fundamental truth.

Now, Trump is referring to a misleading news report that caused the market to go down in early December 2017. It was a blip on the radar that the market quickly recovered from before surging much higher into year-end.

But it’s an interesting perspective into market psychology and short-termism. What we often view as short-term manipulation or false reporting is actually the norm. After all, much of the price action in the short-term is based on unfounded opinions and emotions that don’t necessarily reflect the long-term fundamentals of the markets. But all of these minor overreactions add up into what is generally a pretty good reflection of the long-term fundamentals.

2) Kim Kardashian might be smarter than all of us. Here’s Donald Trump meeting with Kim Kardashian at the White House yesterday:

A lot of people were outraged by this meeting saying that it’s absurd that a reality TV star would be allowed into the Oval Office. Of course, there’s two reality TV starts in this picture, but that’s a different discussion. But the interesting thing is that Kardashian is obviously very good at what she does. She has built a hundred million dollar business and one of the largest brands in the entire world and sustained it for a very long time. Yeah, she might not be qualified to solve the world’s most complex problems, but she’s doing something right.

So I don’t fully understand some of the angst here. People of influence don’t have to have a PhD to make a difference. And if Kim Kardashian uses her significant influence to try to do some good in the world then good for her. We need more of that.

3) Not gonna lie, I don’t want to critique another Donald Trump Tweet.